Indiana's top-ten payroll is still waiting for its first Zubac and Haliburton minute

2026-09-28

The most important pairing on the Indiana Pacers roster has zero shared minutes behind it: Ivica Zubac played five games for Indiana last season and never took the floor with Tyrese Haliburton.

That is the fit question Rick Carlisle carries into Media Day on Monday. General manager Chad Buchanan has said Zubac will need to adjust to Indiana's style without losing what makes him effective, and I like that order of operations.

In 2025-26, Indiana carried the 10th-highest payroll in the league and won like the league's second-worst team, a Sunk Cost season. The problem is structural: injuries derailed the season almost before it began, so the rotation on the payroll sheet never got a real look.

Yes, the team WAGE Score fell to 11 last season from 78 a year earlier, a gnarly drop. But that grade belongs to a roster whose core pairing never shared the floor.

It's early, and Zubac, Haliburton and Pascal Siakam have yet to play as a group. Zoom out: with championship talk now part of the conversation in Indiana, a top-ten bill needs top-ten production this season.

Last season's spending bought a theory, not a verdict.